TAXES, SCHMAXES--I'M RICH, MOTHERFUCKER!

So the G8 summit is underway, and Bono Geldof wants something done about African debt--"drop the debt," they say, and "make poverty history." How fitting then, that this week the incomparable David Cay Johnston brings us another one of his striking tax stories. The one-sentence summary that came to my inbox when I emailed the article to myself says it all:

"The number of affluent individuals and married couples who paid no federal income taxes jumped more than 15 percent in 2002."

Hear what that sentence says--these are "affluent" people, yet they paid no federal income taxes. They have big incomes but don't pay federal income taxes on them. And we know that there is no FICA tax after a worker's first $90,000 of income, so they're not really helping fix the Social Security problem either.

And this is happening while we are enjoying the highest federal budget deficit in history. This is happening while we're in the midst of a $300 billion + war of choice. And it's being done while the world's poorest people--the "least of these," if you will are dying every three seconds (if Will Smith is to be believed).

You know, maybe if these people paid some taxes, we could make poverty history in America and Africa. I'm not even necessarily suggesting that they be made to pay all the taxes that people in their income bracket. If they'd just be made to pay something, it would be infinitely better than nothing.

These people use the roads, the police, are protected by our armed forces, and use our infrastructure just like the rest of us yet they pay nothing to maintain it? Can it possibly be true? I know it's hard to believe, and I hate corporate America and I'm a liberal. I can't imagine that Rush's regular conservative, pro-business, pro-war listeners can bring themselves to believe it. Especially since the information is reported by the (gasp!) New York Times.

But I do believe it is true. After all, the information came from the Bush administration itself (which actually makes it automatically suspect)--I guess they want to show their corporate owners that their bidding is being done. And oh, how it's being done...